From: daviderl31@yahoo.com   
      
   Cradle of Hope   
      
   First Air date:  Sep. 25, 1995   
      
   The story starts out with a Seer or Prophetess foretelling that a child will   
   have King Gregor's throne. And his adviser, Nemos, who obviously is the bad   
   guy here, wants the baby dead.  (I'm not sure what his motive is, to some   
   day takeover the throne himself most likely.)  And the baby is put into a   
   basket and sent downstream.  (That seems SO familiar, somehow.)   
      
   Of course the baby is found by Xena and Gabrielle (who is still in peasant   
   garb, but different ones. I suppose Gabrielle would have more than one set   
   of clothes, but these must be her back-up, older, nearly worn out ones,   
   because they sure looked like they've seen better days).   
      
   Gabrielle wants to name the baby Gabriel, or Xenos (as an afterthought).   
      
   They come across a mob trying to hang a woman from horseback. It turns out   
   she is Pandora, granddaughter of the original Pandora.  (And why were they   
   trying to hang her? No explanation that I heard.) And she has the infamous   
   Box.   
      
   They go to a tavern to find milk for the baby, and while there, they are   
   accosted by the evil Nemos and his men. Xena's only weapon is a mouth full   
   of wine and a torch, to spit fire at the soldiers. After the ensuing fight,   
   Nemos runs off with the Box, leaving Pandora holding the baby.  Apparently   
   he knows who they both are – Xena and Pandora, and warns King Gregor about   
   them.   
      
   Meanwhile, Xena uses the Pinch on the tavern owner, telling him he has less   
   than a minute to live. (Maybe it takes longer than twenty seconds for portly   
   men to die.)   
      
   Xena has a meeting with the king while Gabrielle is able to find Ophelia,   
   the woman who set the baby adrift. According to Gabrielle, Xena fights and   
   she talks.   
      
   Xena goes to the Quarter Moon Festival (Hey, any excuse for a festival,   
   right?) as a dancer in Ophelia's place (wearing Ophelia's costume, we   
   assume). Naturally, Nemos wants Xena for the night and has her taken to his   
   room. (Can you blame him? Xena was SMOKIN' HOT!! She can dance for me   
   anytime!) She knocks him out so she can search the king's room for the Box.   
   She steals the box and dives out of a window as Nemos starts to take it from   
   her. She gives the Box to Pandora and takes the baby and puts him in   
   Gregor's son's crib (how EASY it must be to just come and go in the palace).   
   But shr runs away with the baby when Nemos and his loyal guards want the   
   baby to kill. (I STILL don't know what the motivation is to kill the baby.)   
      
   Outside the palace, Xena has a fun time fighting the soldiers while she and   
   Gabrielle play Toss the Baby. (And why were the soldiers and townspeople   
   also fighting each other?)   
      
   Xena kills Nemos and all his soldiers run away.   
      
   Gregor decides to keep the baby as his own, and tells Pandora he needs her   
   help taking care of the baby.  (He could do worse, Pandora's a BABE!) And   
   Xena asks that they name the baby Gabriel. (As if Gabrielle would ever   
   know!)   
      
   Xena finds Gabrielle with the box, and as they are leaving, Gabrielle   
   accidentally knocks the box off its pedestal. It opens up and is empty, much   
   to Gabrielle's surprise. (Maybe it's because Hope escaped in the blink of an   
   eye. And maybe it was invisible to begin with.) But Xena says, "We all carry   
   hope around inside of us."   
      
     End of episode.   
      
      
   It wasn't too bad.  It had two plots moving along at the same time – Pandora   
   trying to keep the Box safe, and an abandoned baby that King Gregor (at the   
   urging of Nemos) may have to have killed.   
      
   I don't think it was as good as 'Dreamworker' though.  It seems like this   
   had quite a bit of comedy in it – Gabrielle's comments about naming the   
   baby, Xena asking Gabrielle if she's holding the baby wrong when he won't   
   stop crying, Xena waving off the growling dog, the Baby Toss fight (even the   
   fight music wasn't the one we usually hear. It had a lighter, bouncier   
   tune), as compared to 'Dreamworker.'   
      
   Xena is still carrying her sword on her hip.  No breast knife this episode.   
   And no Gabrielle yelling out "XENA!"  Ah, well, maybe next time.   
      
   One last thing – All the BLUE EYES!  Xena, Pandora, Nemos, and maybe Gregor.   
   Just the luck of casting, I suppose.   
      
   On a scale of 1 – 10, I would give this a 6.   
      
      
   David   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)